The Gölbaşı Ground Station ( tr, Gölbaşı Uydu Yer Kontrol Merkezi) is a ground station designed as a

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output dev ...

for

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

with Türksat

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

. Owned and operated by the state-owned telecommunications provider Türksat company, it is situated in Gölbaşı district of

Ankara Province Ankara Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey with the capital city Ankara. Demographics History The site of the modern city has been home to settlements by many historic Anatolian civilizations in antiquity and classical times, in ...

in Turkey. The earth station was established in 1994 for servicing Turkey's first communications satellite

Türksat 1B Turksat 1B was a Turkish communications satellite as part of a project to form an instant network with two geosynchronous satellites that is supervised by the companies Türksat A.Ş. in Turkey and Aérospatiale of France. Türksat 1B was launch ...

launched on August 11 that year. For the location of its backup facility, the campus of Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) was chosen, about away. The ground station consists of equipment such as and parabolic antennas of high reliance, electronic devices, data processing system and

uninterrupted power supply An uninterruptible power supply or uninterruptible power source (UPS) is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source or mains power fails. A UPS differs from an auxiliary or emergency power system ...

unit for telecommunication with the

Türksat 1C Türksat 1C was a Turkish communications satellite as part of a project to form an instant network with two geosynchronous satellites that is supervised by the companies Türksat A.Ş. in Turkey and Aérospatiale of France. Türksat 1C was launc ...

, 2A 3A satellites currently in orbit. The backup station has a antenna available. The facility features, in full backup, a satellite control center, an observation and control center, a communications observation center and a data encryption center. Further, a satellite simulator provides training for the operators, which is also used for approval purposes of procedures to be applied on the spacecraft. Since the ground station in Gölbaşı is capable of servicing three satellites at a time only, it is projected to expand its capacity with regard of the launch of

Türksat 4A Türksat 4A is a Turkish communications satellite, operated by Türksat. It was constructed by Mitsubishi Electric (MELCO) of Japan, based on the MELCO DS2000 satellite bus, and was launched by the American-Russian joint-venture company Interna ...

satellite in 2014. The construction of a backup ground station in

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it ...

is planned.

Earthquake risk

On December 20, 2007, an earthquake of 5.7

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

occurred in

Balâ, Ankara Bala is a town and district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, 67 km south-east of the city of Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central ...

, about far from Gölbaşı Ground Station. Although the ground station was not affected by the earthquake, the incident showed the possible risk of telecommunication blackout and loss of satellites in orbit in case of an earthquake. Due to proximity of the backup facility to the ground station, the earthquake risk is much high. It is required that the backup facility's location should be at least away. A report states that when the link between the spacecraft and the earth station is interrupted for a period of 48 hours, the re-establishment of the link is unlikely.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golbasi Satellite Control Ground Center Earth stations in Turkey 1994 establishments in Turkey Buildings and structures completed in 1994 Buildings and structures in Ankara Province Satellite Control Ground Center